33 



E 286 
.E14 
1833 
Copy 1 



AIX addre:s8 



SEUTERED BEFORE THE 



I^ITERARY SOCIETIES 



OF 



AT EASTOW, PA 

July 4, 1833. 



BY JOSEPH B. IJVGEBSOLL. 



k\ . 



AN ADDRESSS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



lilTERARY SOCIETIES 



i^S^ 



AT EASTOK, PA. 



JULY 4, 1833. 



BY JOSEPH R. INGERSOLL. 



PUBLISHED AT THE KEaUEST OF THE SOCIETIES. 



PHILADELPUM: 



1833 



£ If 



J. UAIIDING, FaiNTEB. 



^ 



^ Lafayette College, July Ath, 1833. 

•>» 

-^ Respected Sir: 

^ As the organs of the Franklin and Washington Li- 

terary Societies, we return you their unanimous 
thanks for the very eloquent and able address deliver- 
ed by you this morning; and also earnestly request a 
copy for publication. » . 

R. J. TiMLow, ^ Committee on be- 

IsAAC Hall, [ half of the Frank- 

WiLLiAM Taylor, ) Un L. Society. 

James B. Ramsey, ^ Committee on he- 
Chas. F. Worrel, y half of the Wash- 
J. Hall M^Ilvaine, ) ington L. Society. 

To J. R. Ingersoll, Esq. 



VBmMWH 



ADDRE88, &c. 



A WHOLE nation is at this moment celebrating the 
birth day of its independence. From the wide ex- 
tremes of this extended land the din of arms an- 
nounces, not the conflict of hostile legions, but the re- 
joicings of patriot freemen. The thunder of cannon 
is every where proclaiming a people's gratitude to 
those who first erected the temple of liberty, and first 
sacrificed upon her altars; and millions of swelling 
hearts beat in responsive unison. Let us Withdraw 
for a moment from these animating scenes of joy and 
gratitude, and indulge in noiseless contemplation our 
no less fervent sensibility for the blessings we have in- 
herited, and exchange our mutual pledges to cherish 
and preserve them. 

These periodical revolutions of time are happily 
calculated to keep alive the recollection of past events. 
Feelings which are inspired even by the great occur- 
rence of the 4th of July, 1776, would become languid 
if they were not occasionally renewed. Remarkable 
events are rooted in the memory only when it dwells 
upon them from time to time, and recalls the periods 
which gave them existence. They are thus, as it 
were, acted over again in fancy, with all their attrac- 



tions, and none of their toils and dangers. They be- 
come known to us by a sort of communication more 
impressive than history and more vivid than mere tra- 
dition; and passing from generation to generation in 
frequent and familiar intercourse, their influence is at 
length stamped indelibly on the hearts and reflected 
from the conduct of those who thus at stated periods 
and at short intervals recur to them. 

The American revolution cannot properly be esti- 
mated, independently of its consequences. Sublime 
as were the sacrifices which it called forth, it is not 
to be considered merely as a glorious display of de- 
voted patriotism, untiring fortitude and determined 
valour — as a bright example of virtuous efforts con- 
ducted by a gracious providence to happy results — 
as a triumphant relief of suffering worth from proud 
oppression — or as the auspicious establishment of a 
mighty empire on the broadest basis of popular repre- 
sentation. These properties belong indeed to an 
event among the most remarkable in the story of man- 
kind. Had it been no otherwise distinguished, his- 
tory would have inscribed it upon her brightest page; 
philosophy would have pointed to it as confirming 
many of her favourite theories; and the shades of 
those who bled for its accomplishment would have 
continued to walk amid the conflicts and animate the 
exertions of struggling freedom until the end of time. 
It would have taught lessons profitable to the world 
at large. Its speculative results would have been the 



property of mankind. But a long train of benefits 
and blessings was laid for the descendants of those 
who braved the storm, and who were themselves un- 
conscious of the extent which they would one day 
reach. These benefits and blessings have continued 
to pass along the course of time, increasing in abun- 
dance and diff'using themselves in lavish bounty in 
their progress. They resemble a stream which, 
springing from a pure but unpretending source in the 
depths of the forest or on the summit of the mountain, 
gathers as it flows its tributary waters, and gliding 
through boundless plains which it fertilizes, swells at 
length into a mighty and majestic river, which re- 
flects from its bright surface populous cities, and 
bears upon its buoyant waves the productions of a 
world. 

The practical effects of the American revolution 
are peculiarly ours. National honour and individual 
prosperity; an attainment of all the comforts and con- 
veniences of life; science adopted, learning cultivat- 
ed, and knowledge every where diff'used; a spirit of 
enterprise without a parallel; activity the most in- 
tense, and success in almost every under4;aking with- 
in the reach of human strength — all are results, the 
deep foundations of which were laid on the day and 
by the deed, which we are now commemorating. But 
for that day and that deed, they would have been un- 
known, and this now united and powerful republic 
would have continued to be a collection of loosely 



8 

combined and dependent colonies. They would have 
languished in feeble existence, subject to the caprice 
of foreign power; the perpetual prey, and the bloody 
arena of a warfare not their own ; starved perhaps by 
the neglect, or, what would have been scarcely bet- 
ter, fed by thfe condescending bounty of a distant 
master. Where are the colonies that have really as- 
sumed the dignity or enjoyed the advantages of a na- 
tion? Shall we turn to the West India Islands? Dif- 
ferent governments of Europe have there tried the 
effect of their respective systems ; and have left their 
dependencies almost motionless in moral and intellec- 
tual improvement, effectually moving only in a career 
of monied advantages, where it is difficult to say 
which is the more intolerable, the insecurity and per- 
petual alarm of the master, or the hopeless, yet un- 
subdued and reluctant submission of the slave. Spain 
had gone on adding to the load of oppression under 
which her American colonists had groaned, for ages, 
until at length the chains were broken which had be- 
come too galling to be borne. But what has the 
boasted colonial policy of Great Britain done to be- 
nefit its subjects? how little has it attempted except 
to enrich herself! Human sacrifices still kindle the 
fires which burn upon the funeral piles of Hindoo 
superstition. The idol Juggernaut still dyes his cha- 
riot wlieels with human blood. These sad remains 
of native ignorance darken the sky of European su- 
premacy, while the once splendid fabrics of Asiatic 



taste and elegance are mouldering into dust. What 
has the country, peopled with eighty-nine millions of 
inhabitants, gained by the exchange of rulers? Igno- 
rance and a false religion, with its impure and impi- 
ous rites, maintain their power; not even as formerly, 
at least the companions of national independence ; but 
shorn of the consolations which the elevation and 
grandeur of self-government might have continued to 
inspire. Shall we compare the advancement of the 
Canadas, much favoured as they have been by their 
distant rulers, with that of their republican neigh- 
bours? A single illustration may suffice. The hap- 
piest invention of modern times for the diffusion of 
useful and universal information, in the cheapest 
form, the freshest in production, the most various in 
matter, and the most practical for the purposes of life, 
is the establishment of gazettes. The art of printing 
was imperfect without them. Books are the pre- 
ceptors of the scholar and the philosopher, but the 
daily press is the friend and the companion of the 
man. No station is so exalted as to be out of the 
sphere of its influence, none so humble that it does 
not reach it. It is alike welcome in the populous 
city and the sequestered vale. It goes forth with the 
sun himself, and diffuses universal light. Political 
knowledge and individual instruction are alike dis- 
seminated by it. It penetrates the workshop and 
the counting room, the cottage and the cabin : it flics 
to the traveller, however remote, on wings as swift 

2 



10 

almost as light, and overtakes and cheers him with 
the intelligence of his home. The chamber of the 
sick is relieved by its consolations ; even the dungeon 
of the prisoner is rendered less dark by its sympathy. 
We are told by Sir James Mackintosh in his cele- 
brated defence of Peltier for an alleged libel on Na- 
poleon, that in the year of the Armada, Queen Eli- 
zabeth caused to be printed the first gazette that ever 
appeared in England. ^^This," he adds, "was one 
of the most sagacious experiments, one of the great- 
est discoveries of political genius, one of the most 
striking anticipations of future experience that we 
find in history." More than sixty gazettes are daily 
issued from the presses of these United States besides 
the numbers which less frequently appear. In Eng- 
land, too, they are multiplied and magnified to the 
best of purposes under the patronage of the succes- 
sors of Elizabeth, their ministers and people. Yet 
the Canadas have, it seems, within the last few weeks, 
(if it has been done at all) made their very first at- 
tempt thus with every rising sun to enlighten the 
public mind — to penetrate like his beams the deepest 
caverns, and dispel the shades of ignorance — to esta- 
blish a watchtowcr, which to a people boasting of 
freedom and meaning to maintain it, is indispensable 
— a lighthouse, which to a people desirous of general 
knowledge, is inestimable. 

A debt of gratitude which can never be effectually 
cancelled, is due to the founders of our republic, from 



11 

al who enjoy the rich inheritance; an inheritance 
which their valour won and their wisdom has, we 
devoutly trust, secured. It may be partially repaid 
only by never ceasing efforts, to dishonour not the 
authors of our blood — " to attest that those whom we 
call fathers did beget us." The devout Mahometan 
in his daily prayers, is said to turn from every cor- 
ner of the remotest lands towards the temple of Mec- 
ca. So should the grateful American fix his steady 
eye and constant heart upon the event which ren- 
dered this day the brightest of the political year; 
animated by the spirit, instructed by the precepts, 
led by the example and faithful to the principles 
which shone forth on that trying occasion, when the 
garb of patriotism was to all appearance of the same 
texture and the same hue with the robe of rebellion — 
when clouds and darkness hung upon the same narrow 
steep and thorny path which led to immortal fame or to 
an ignominious grave — to honour or the scaffold — to 
liberty or death. During the whole voyage of life, 
in all its varying latitudes from early infancy to ex- 
tremest age, this same bright star should guide us, 
these same ennobling feelings should inspire and ani- 
mate and purify us. Neither the young nor the old 
are exempt from the obligation. It calls alike for the 
exertions of all. While the active performers on the 
stage devote the best energies of manly maturity to 
ennoble and exalt their country, they are cheered 
by the smiles and guided by the instructions of the 



12 

venerable fathers of the nation. Youth, too, has its 
no less appropriate office. The young Hannibal be- 
fore the assembled wisdom of Carthage offered up his 
vow of unrelenting hatred to the Romans. Let the 
young American, in better spirit but with the same 
undoubting zeal, devote himself to the love and ser- 
vice of his native land. In the discharge of this his 
sacred vow, his earliest and his unceasing efforts must 
be directed to the promotion of science, without 
which even freedom itself would be an empty name. 
It is the best — under the sacred guardianship of hea- 
ven, it is the only safe protection of the dignity, the 
power, the glory, the happiness, the virtue, and even 
the existence of the republic. Without it, her in- 
stitutions are erected on the sand ; defenceless from 
the shocks of ignorance, caprice and passion ; with 
it, they are grounded on the solid rock, and will 
defy the storms of foreign and domestic strife. 

The maxim has grown to be as familiar as it is true, 
that knowledge is power. The very terms are al- 
most synonimous. Our language derives from the 
same root the words which imply the strength to 
execute and the intellect to perceive and learn. 
Glossarists trace the term king, now serving as the 
title of the possessor of the proudest human rank, to 
an origin which signifies /moioledgCp that being the 
first and surest fountain of authority. But the cause 
we advocate and are endeavouring to sustain, would 
deserve only half our homage were it the source or 



13 

the instrument of merely power. Mere power, un- 
enliglitened, unrefined, with the strength of angels, 
may be tainted with the wickedness of demons. Sci- 
ence is the companion and the parent of virtue — the 
antidote and foe of vice. Power, enlightened, puri- 
fied, refined, is the attribute of God himself. It is 
in a state of ignorance, that the imagination of man's 
heart is desperately wicked. Religion and virtue 
find their way to it when the path is lighted by the 
lamp of knowledge. 

The progress of science may be traced and its 
charms discerned in a gradual extinction of the evil 
dispositions, and a corresponding improvement in the 
finer feelings of our nature, as the understanding is 
enlightened and the manners are refined. Barbarous 
nations are without definite notions of property or so- 
licitude for the acquisition of it, and they are thus 
strangers to a pregnant source of crimes among those 
which are civilized. Yet they are the victims of in- 
ternal discord more savage and relentless than that of 
beasts of prey; and of external warfare, fierce, cruel 
and insatiable. The ancient Saxons and their neigh- 
bouring Danes were perpetually involved in ferocious 
and brutal conflicts. Scarcely less ferocity at one 
time mingled with the border wars of the English 
and the Scots. Yet the same blood which, uncheck- 
ed in its tumultuous fury, became inflamed to more 
than madness among them, plunged in ignorance as 
they were, now flows in gentle currents through the 



14 

veins of their educated descendants. Conquests of a 
nobler nature are now the objects of ambition — the 
brilliant and bloodless conquests of mind over matter, 
and the corresponding triumphs of reason and philoso- 
phy over passion, ignorance and vice. Every stu- 
dent should be familiar with the delightful work of 
Professor Herschel, written not long since expressly 
to show the advantages of science. Astronomy, 
chemistry, magnetism, the use of steam, navigation — 
have all during the present age and at a recent pe- 
riod of it developed resources and been made produc- 
tive of results which at any time heretofore would 
have been deemed impracticable or supernatural. 
Wisdom once employed itself in fruitless searches for 
the art of divination among conjunctions of the pla- 
nets, or hoped to manufacture gold by the discovery 
of the philosopher's stone. That is the true astrolo- 
gy which opens the book of science, and foretels to the 
fearless mariner his safety on the trackless ocean ; 
which bids him securely leave every landmark and 
trust to the unerring guardianship of an occasionally 
cloudless sky, and conducts him after months of ab- 
sence precisely to his wished for home. That is the 
only alchemy which finds a philosopher's stone in the 
commonest productions of nature, and with known 
and simple elements forces matter into changes which 
Ovid never dreamt of and the fabled Proteus never 
underwent. What would the wisest of the philoso- 
phers of former times have said had he been told that 



15 

sawdust can be converted into wholesome digestible 
and nutritious food? that linen rags can produce more 
than their own weight of sugar? or that a bushel of 
coal properly consumed can be made to raise a weight 
of seventy millions of pounds? 

Natural philosophy is the root of science. Most 
of the discoveries useful to mankind are drawn di- 
rectly from itj and all may be regarded as more or 
less connected with it. The various departments of 
knowledge are more nearly allied to each other than 
a superficial observer would suppose. A very skil- 
ful and sagacious writer advises the youthful lawyer 
to prepare himself for the cross examination of wit- 
nesses by a careful study of the mathematics. Intel- 
lect is necessarily affected and perhaps controlled by 
the matter which surrounds it. Natural science 
therefore, which teaches the phenomena of all that 
the senses can perceive, and all that can be ac- 
curately known, leads to an acquaintance with the 
operations of the mind itself. How can we direct 
the human willy without a knowledge of the fibres of 
the body by which it acts, without analyzing the air 
which its possessor breathes, without penetrating into 
the earth he cultivates, and from which he draws his 
subsistence and his enjoyments j without ascertaining 
the opportunities which he has for the exercise and 
improvement of the faculties which we should for ever 
seek to direct to some useful and efficient end? Gre- 
cian learning, with all its brilliancy, wanted the basis 



16 

of precision and accuracy, because Grecian scholars 
were ignorant of the philosophy of nature. One wise 
man thought he had settled every thing in science ; 
another believed that nothing could be settled. Both 
were wrong, and their mistake arose from the want 
of an unerring standard to suspend the premature 
conclusions of the one and resolve the discontented 
misgivings of the other. Modern times claim a su- 
periority in discarding most of what is merely specu- 
lative, and holding fast to the useful and the true. 
No period of the world has been, and no portion of it 
can be more propitious than ours to the cultivation of 
what is thus peculiarly valuable and instructive. It 
suits the simplicity of our manners, and harmonizes 
with our tastes and favourite pursuits, and with the 
circumstances in which we are placed. You are espe- 
cially in possession of these advantages, connected as 
you are with an institution which combines instruction 
in all that is lofty and sublime in theory, with all that is 
practically beneficial in the business of life — which is to 
secure to you the companionship and the elegance of 
Virgil among flocks and herds and implements of hus- 
bandry — which teaches you to soar with Newton 
among the stars, or to meditate with the patriarch 
Isaac at eventide — to unite the learning of the closet 
with the labours of the field. 

Constant activity and exertion of mind and body 
are necessary to the wholesome condition and success- 
ful employment of each. Man was not born to be 



17 

idle. Mark the bloated frame of the sluggard, his 
nerveless arm, his beamless eye. His decrepitude is 
less pitiable than his vicious appetites are loathsome, 
which he has still the passion without the power to 
indulge. Has sloth made less disastrous inroads upon 
his moral nature.'' No. Mental idleness is immea- 
surably more disastrous. The mind cannot be mo- 
tionless or unproductive if it would. It is insuscept- 
ible of a vacuum. Vice and crime grow up in rich 
and rank luxuriance, if their place be not thickly 
sown with plants of better growth. All the lessons 
of nature, of philosophy, and of religion, are opposed 
to idleness, which according to Spencer, is the nurse 
of sin, the companion and the fellow slave of gluttony 
and lust, of envy, avarice and wrath. The earth is 
fitted to call forth the energies of fallen man. In his 
first estate he was " to dress it and keep it." But 
when he lost his innocence, nature herself was 
changed. The ground became reluctant, though not 
rebellious, and he was to till it with labour and moist- 
en its productions with the sweat of his brow. Some 
of the plants of Paradise still here and there diffuse 
their fragrance over the bosom of nature, but they 
are happily no longer of spontaneous growth. Con- 
stituted as we are, toil sweetens the perfumes of the 
fairest flowers and adds flavour to the richest fruit. 
Sloth has not even present comfort and enjoyment to 
recommend it. It is as odious as it is pernicious; as bur- 
densome and oppressive at the moment, as it is disastrous 

3 



18 

in its results. Paradox as it may appear, idleness is 
the hardest work. Every hour of the indefatigable stu- 
dent flies on eagle's wings, while th« leaden moments 
of the idler linger in reluctant and oppressive tedious- 
ness. Foreigners sometimes reproach us as incom- 
petent to literary exertion for the want of leisure. 
There is neither philosophy nor truth in the asser- 
tion. We have men of leisure; but they are for the 
most part like the corresponding class abroad, neither 
disposed nor habituated to efforts either of literature 
or business. A literary lord is a rare production ; and 
when he is to be found he often owes his title to his 
literature, and not his literature to his title. Lord 
Byron indeed, whose literature is not lofty enough to 
sanctify his bad feelings or bad morals, was unexpect- 
edly a lord, and he laid the foundation for his litera- 
ture before he became one. But the few noble writ- 
ers of Great Britain, from Lord Bacon, who was 
unworthy only in his dignities, to Lord Brougham, 
who condescended to accept a title, wear a wreath 
fairer than princely crowns. On the other hand, Sir 
William Jones and Sir Humphrey Davy, and the most 
abundant and delightful writer of the age, Sir Walter 
Scott, were all men of business, and attentive in the 
midst of varied study to their professional and official 
pursuits. The discipline which the mind acquires in 
a course of industry qualifies it for the occupations of 
science, if it has the taste to enjoy them. All the 
leisure of a hermit will not have the effect, if it has 



19 

not. Cultivate then this taste which may be proper- 
ly directed and chastened and elevated, where it is 
natural, and may even be acquired where it is not. 

Youth is the season for acquirement — not merely 
for the acquisition of habits of taste, study, reflection, 
generosity of sentiment, energy in action, kindness of 
feeling, and all that is calculated to ennoble and puri- 
fy the moral character; but of solid and beneficial 
knowledge. I do not mean to urge this position, be- 
cause of the importance of fixing early habits of in- 
dustry and application ; or of the more numerous and 
conflicting duties of after life; or of the solemn truth 
that the hopes of the young like the disappointments 
of the old, are not exempt from the liability which 
awaits every thing human, of being terminated by the 
stroke of death. All these are inducements of un- 
questionable strength. But beyond them all as an 
argument from expediency is the fact, that the ca- 
pacity for learning is the liveliest and the strongest 
and the most active among the young. Granting a 
superiority of judgment to the mind that is matured 
by experience and enriched with knowledge, that 
which is fresh in years is the best adapted to ac- 
quirement. I will not pause to consider whether it 
proceed solely from the vivacity of youth, its ardour 
in the pursuit and unmingled delight in the enjoy- 
ment of the objects of its choice; or whether these 
qualities are materially aided by the absence of other 
cares, and the means of giving a devotion without 



20 

restraint to what it would learn. But it is the flood- 
tide of opportunity which cannot without irreparable 
loss be permitted to pass away. The first word in 
the soldier's vocabulary is attention; and it should 
be inscribed on every page of the scholar's manual. 
It is the warrant of fidelity and exactitude in every 
pursuit. It is the surest aid to prompt as well as ex- 
tensive acquisition, the secret spring of genius itself. 
It is at least the generous and steady contributor to 
the memory, if it be not another word for the memo- 
ry itself, which according to Cicero, is a universal 
treasury.* Why do the old so frequently complain 
that they can remember events of distant occurrence 
while they readily forget those of recent date? Be- 
cause the faculty for acquirement slumbers, because 
the vigour of attention has passed away. Why does 
technical assistance, or the recurrence at the moment 
of study to analogous objects, fix the particular mat- 
ter more deeply in the mind? Because the attention 
is thus rivetted to it by a double effort. Early im- 
pressions, made when the senses are acute and unim- 
paired, and when curiosity is wide awake without a 
prompter, are not effaced by the lapse of years. They 
sink deep into the mind, and like letters carved on 
marble, last until the substance which receives them 
is destroyed. Late impressions, if such they can be 
called, which are made through the imperfect atten- 

* "Quid dicam de thesauro rerum omnium, memoria?" 
Cic. dc Orat. lib. 1, 19. 



21 

tion of feeble and decaying faculties, are like marks 
upon the yielding sand which the succeeding wave 
washes away. Memory may remain to the last stage 
of life, but the agent that should thus minister to its 
supplies, having lost its energy, the treasure intend- 
ed for preservation is consigned to instant and irre- 
mediable oblivion. Seize the propitious moment, 
which is always the present one. Procrastination is 
the thief of duty as well as time ; and time, if not a 
friend, is the most unrelenting and inexorable foe. 
His rapid journey is delayed at no resting place ; his 
eye never closes, his wing never droops, his arm 
never tires, his scythe is as insatiable as the grave — 

For beauty, wit, 
High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service, 
Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all 
To envious and calumniating time. 

Were it necessary for the present purpose, it could 
be demonstrated that youth is scarcely less qualified 
for bold exploits than for untiring study. Many are 
the examples from Alexander of Macedon to Napo- 
leon Bonaparte of early greatness. There are not a 
few where it has been succeeded by comparative fee- 
bleness in middle life. But the instances are rare of 
capacity in age engrafted upon slothfulness and imbe- 
cility in earlier years. 

In pursuing a course of honourable and useful in- 
struction, a broad basis must be laid in attainments of 
universal value. The disposition and the talent for a 



22 

particular pursuit may not soon be developed, and 
until they are, a comprehensive system of elementary 
education is calculated to bring them out into obvious 
relief, and to afford opportunities for a wise selection 
with a prospect of honourable proficiency and ulti- 
mate success. Yet the time must come when the 
broad and beaten road of general knowledge diverges 
into various narrow paths. Among them a selection 
must be made of the one which is to lead to eminence. 
Happily all are honourable and meritorious. A choice 
is to be influenced less by the abstract' nature of the 
duty which is to ensue, than by the temper and 
qualities of mind and body of him who is about to 
choose. Each has its responsibilities ; and where can 
the lot of man be cast without them ? Each has its 
enjoyments in possession or in prospect, and each has 
its troubles and its cares. 

In a country where church and state are disconnect- 
ed, nothing can be more free from every sordid and 
selfish consideration than the motives which lead the 
minister of the gospel to his holy calling. They are 
for the most part a pledge for the purity of his life 
and the fidelity of his exertions. Few and lowly are 
the earthly honours that invite his choice or reward 
his sacrifices. He needs no recorded vow of per- 
petual poverty. While a broad line separates him 
from power, political consequence, and worldly plea- 
sure, an adequate supply for temporal wants is all 
that his profession can afford him ; subsistence itself 



23 

is often earned by rigid self-denial, and sometimes 
his frugal meals are made upon the bread of tears. 
Sustained by the consciousness of doing good, and 
contented in the absence of all that glitters upon the 
mere surface of human existence, while others run the 
race of life for a corruptible crown, he literally seeks 
one that is incorruptible. 

Scarcely less benevolent are the motives, although 
more productive of pecuniary benefit, are the exer- 
tions of the physician. A guardian angel of the sick, 
he is often able to pour the balm of consolation into 
the wounds of the afflicted. In his study and his 
practice nature unlocks to him her varied stores, and 
art becomes his willing tributary. All the best feel- 
ings of the mind and heart are called forth into active 
exercise. Is he a philosopher? there is no limit to 
the expanded field of speculation and discovery which 
is presented to him. Is he a philanthropist? there is 
no end to his power and opportunity of affording re- 
lief to suffering humanity. Crowns and mitres are of 
no value to the aching head. Swords and sceptres 
become impotent in the palsied hand. The minister 
of health removes from the brow the heaviest load of 
care, strengthens the arm of impotency, and makes 

"The flinty and steel couch, 
A thrice driven bed of down." 

If activity and enterprise are better suited to the 
temper than a life of study and comparative retire- 
ment, commerce presents her never ceasing charms. 



24 

No corner of the gi'eat globe is inaccessible to her 
visits. She gratifies the most ardent curiosity by an 
intercourse and immediate alliance with the remotest 
climes. To the enterprising she affords the widest 
scope for untiring activity ; to the generous she fur- 
nishes the readiest and the most abundant means for 
the exercise of liberality. Stores of wealth are accu- 
mulated by the skill and industry of the merchant. 
But he feels himself to be rather the faithful steward 
who is to distribute them, than the avaricious master 
who is to hoard them during life, or to commit them 
in a course of unnatural primogeniture to the perils of 
profligacy and vicious expenditures, when he can no 
longer dispense or enjoy them. In a country like 
our own, where pomp has no parasites and riches alone 
cannot secure esteem, the virtues of the liberal mer- 
chant are especially conspicuous. Of what avail are 
boundless treasures to himself, if they cannot pur- 
chase for him a coronet or seat him in a palace? How 
inestimable is their value when they are devoted to 
the embellishment and honour of his country! The 
munificence of the De Medici towards the city of 
Florence, has been emulated in a course of generous 
rivalship among ourselves. In one city the acquisi- 
tions of commerce are directed during the life of their 
proprietor with judicious kindness to the cultivation 
of literature, or to open the eyes of the blind. In 
another they are poured forth in posthumous profu- 
sion in various channels, to embellish, to instruct, and 



25 

to improve. Where shall we look for a parallel to 
the prudence and care in the acquisition of wealth, 
or the disinterested liberality in the distribution of it, 
which have been exhibited in the recent instance of 
Stephen Girard? His laborious life of never chang- 
ing fidelity, teaches a striking lesson how wealth the 
most extensive may be acquired. His devotion of 
more than six millions to the benefit of his fellow ci- 
tizens, and of that a large portion directly to the pur- 
poses of education, furnishes a bright example how it 
should be bestowed. 

Who that can feel the charms of nature, or that 
knows the value and the bliss of domestic peace, is 
insensible to the invitations of a country life? There, 
the ruder passions are softened, and the more restless 
ones are tranquillized and subdued. Labour gives 
flavour to the frugal meal and secures repose to the 
toil worn limbs. If the sphere of action be more li- 
mited, that of contemplation is more extensive. If 
the opportunities for shining actions are not so fre- 
quent and various, the temptations to those of an op- 
posite character are less abundant. Yet a life of re- 
tirement would be altogether uncongenial to him 
whose resources within himself are not a substitute 
for society. A mind disciplined by deep reflection, 
a body invigorated by toil, may qualify their posses- 
sor for the most dillicult and responsible employments, 
and for stations the most dignified and exalted. The 
ancients would have peopled with spiritual instruc- 

4 



26 

tors the shady grove. They would have imputed to 
an intercourse with its tutelar inhabitants the know- 
ledge and wisdom which solitude and study are com- 
petent to confer. They would have sought a sove- 
reign or a general at the door of his cottage, or at the 
tail of his plough; and they would have justified their 
choice in the wisdom of a Numa, and the valour of a 
Cincinnatus. 

At every period of civil society when the smallest 
ingredient of freedom has entered into the composi- 
tion of the government, the public interests have 
been closely united to the profession of the law. 
Judging by the numbers that throng the path, it is 
the most attractive to the young aspirant for fame. 
Little, however, do they who regard it at a distance, 
know the thorns with which its steep ascent abounds. 
Labour and responsibility attend its every footstep ; 
and when at last its giddiest heights are gained, few 
and fortunate are the travellers who even there can 
find repose. Yet its labours are not inelegant, nor 
its duties barren in results grateful to the generous 
mind. Oppression may be burdensome in the ex- 
treme, and tyranny may be complicated beyond en- 
durance, if the oppressed are left to seek relief by 
their own unassisted appeals to justice. Many are 
ignorant of their rights ; more are unable to command 
the time and the means which are required to assert 
them. Poverty may be crushed by " the oppressor's 
wrongs" — suffering virtue may be unprotected from 



27 

^^ the proud man's contumely" — innocence may sink 
under the rebuke and ^^ the insolence of office." To 
wipe the tear from the widow's and the orphan's 
eye ; to shield the weak from the blow of proud op- 
pression ; and to vindicate from all abuse the majesty 
and the purity of justice, are the duty and the de- 
light of the virtuous lawyer. And oh ! how awful, 
how almost more than human are the powers commit- 
ted to his charge, if he assume the office of a judge or 
a seat in the councils of his country. The issues of 
life and death depend upon his nod; a nation's fate 
may hang upon his lips. If ignorance or indolence 
debase his mind, or caprice or passion sway his judg- 
ment, the magnitude of his power is equalled by the 
extremity of his crime. 

To all these professions and pursuits a liberal edu- 
cation is valuable, to some of them it is indispensable. 
Besides these, other occupations are presented to the 
ambitious scholar for which the course of instruction 
here adopted will eminently qualify him. Every part 
of this great continent seems destined to become the 
theatre of improvements, which in many places are 
already far advanced in their progress, and at periods 
more or less remote, will embrace the whole. Agri- 
culture is promoted among us to the rank of a science. 
Roads and canals are intersecting various portions of 
the land, connecting distant waters, and penetrating 
the bosoms or ascending the summits of the broadest 
mountains. The rapid and universal advancement of 



28 

an enlightened age requires that the prolific earth 
should be made to yield its rich resources, and that 
all the elements should be brought into contribution 
to facilitate and give effect to the labours of mankind. 
Already have stores been unlocked which preceding 
ages had not ventured to explore. Art has revoked 
the decrees of nature in annihilating distances which 
she had made extreme. In the furtherance of these 
gigantic objects, a large supply of talent and science 
will always be required throughout the land. But it 
is especially in this portion of it that the qualities re- 
ferred to will find their home. A territory of more 
than twenty-seven millions of acres is to be compress- 
ed into the narrowest limits, as respects the ready in- 
terchange of productions and the mutual access and 
intercourse of its inhabitants; while its broad sur- 
face as to its productiveness under the effect of culti- 
vation, and its capacious bosom as a rich, various and 
extensive repository, must be boundless as the firma- 
ment. Without detracting from the merits of her 
sister commonvvealths, Pennsylvania claims to possess 
an unsurpassed combination of resources and advan- 
tages. Her noble rivers, luxuriant soil, unmeasured 
mines, and vigorous, hardy, practical and industrious 
population, may challenge as a whole the competition 
of the fairest of her sisterhood. Every material 
which is necessary to the moral greatness of man is 
found in abundance within her bowels. Gold and sil- 
ver alone are rare. Nor will she lament their scarci- 



29 

ty or envy the possession of them in greater extent by 
her neighbours. When Croesus, King of Lydia, had 
displayed to the Athenian lawgiver his shining horde 
of gold, and hoped that it had excited the admiration 
of the philosopher, he was himself astonished at the 
suggestion that all of it might become the ready prey 
of those who had iron to conquer it. That is truly the 
precious metal, whose use contributes most to human 
happiness and strength — the material of the plough 
share and the pruning hook, of the axe, the anvil, and 
the steam engine. 

It is the pride and ^privilege of Pennsylvania that 
she can fasten the bonds of union which connect the 
diiferent members of this great republic together, by 
pouring her inexhaustible resources into the lap of 
each, and by receiving in her turn the supplies of her 
adventurous and persevering fellow labourers of the 
north, and the generous products of the fertile south. 
In situation and in strength she will delight to continue 
the key stone of the vast political arch as long as it 
shall rest upon the foundations of freedom and virtue, 
and while each particular section remains true to its 
position and firm in its hold. And if, in an evil hour, 
the schemes of ill directed ambition shall prevail, and 
this fair frame of government shall be destroyed, she 
will rise in unassisted strength, and standing in re- 
luctant though secure reliance upon her own re- 
sources, she will mourn over the glittering fragments 
that are scattered around her. 



30 

In a comprehensive scheme of education, every 
source of moral and intellectual culture must be re- 
sorted to. Were precept alone sufficient to regulate 
the conduct and inform the understanding, all would be 
good and wise. Writings under the influenceof divine 
inspiration and human intelligence are full of lessons 
which, if carefully learned and faithfully applied to 
the actions of men, are sufficient to guard against 
error and preserve an adherence to wisdom, recti- 
tude and truth. But precept is often colder than the 
heart, and is therefore uncongenial to its feelings. — 
It is less active than the temper', and therefore cannot 
keep pace with its movements. Even conscience 
herself, were she always well instructed and correct 
in her determinations, it is obvious from daily observa- 
tion, may be lulled to sleep by interest, or if she 
speaks, her still small voice may be drowned by the 
tumults of pleasure or of business. The magic ring 
of the Arabian story which reminded the wearer of 
his duty as he was about to depart from it, became irk- 
some and was thrown aside. If it were practicable to 
be attended at all times by some sagacious friend, 
whose influence could not be resisted, and who should 
arrest the erring purpose in the breast, it would de- 
stroy that moral responsibility, which is an ingredient 
of our nature. It would require besides, a guardian 
like the Mentor of Telemachus of more than human 
wisdom and spotless purity. Next in efficiency to such 
actual companionship is the example when it can be 



31 

vividly exhibited, of those whose lives and actions ap- 
proaching the nearest to perfection, afford the safest 
model for study and imitation, and whose characters 
may be exhibited, purified from their bodily par- 
ticles of human imperfection and infirmity. The Ro- 
man youth were urged always to conduct themselves 
as if the eye of Cato were upon them. Measuring 
their steps by his example they were sure not to stag- 
nate into sloth, or run into vice. 

The founders of this institution, influenced by simi- 
lar considerations have wisely associated with it, some 
of the names, and thus created an obvious connexion 
with the characters, that have given especial renown 
to the nation. 

The name of Lafayette is a pledge for the combina- 
tion of many virtues. It has been said that no man's 
fame can be established till his death. So feeble is human 
nature in its best condition, that while this frail body 
remains united to its immortal companion, there is al- 
ways danger that a single error may forfeit the repu- 
tation which it was the well directed object of a long 
and blameless life to acquire. But a rare union of esti- 
mable qualities,without the alloy of opposite and coun- 
teracting faults — intrepidity without rashness — gen- 
erosity without extravagance — a desire to excel with- 
out dangerous or designing ambition — sincerity with- 
out sternness — kindness without eifeminacy — and con- 
fidence without credulity — seem to afford a pledge that 
the straight and consistent course which has been here 



32 

tofore pursued by the good Lafayette may be continued 
to the end. There was an awful crisis in the strug- 
gle of these states for freedom. Exertion was almost 
exhausted. Disasters had been endured until pa- 
triotism tired of their repetition and no prospect 
opened of their end. All was gloom. Even hope 
itself was sinking rapidly into despondency. At such 
a moment unlocked for succour came. The moral 
principle was exemplified that no disease is hopeless 
but despair. The drooping cause of liberty required 
an influence more imposing than its own merits, and it 
was afforded in the arm and the countenance of a youth- 
ful nobleman. It needed an example of great pecu- 
niary risk, and it was found in the disinterested libe- 
rality which set a princely fortune on the cast. The 
tide of adversity began at once to turn. The sympa- 
thies of the world encouraged another effort, and the 
result was the attainment of victory and the security of 
freedom. Through the varying fortunes of the French 
nation, which has breathed an atmosphere of intense ex- 
citement if not of absolute revolution for more than for- 
ty years, itis the glory of Lafayette that he has never de- 
parted from the line which hisgenerous nature marked 
outfor him from the beginning. In the chaos of anarchy 
he opposed the mad career of popular plirenzy. In the 
reign of despotism, he did not disguise liis love of liber- 
ty. If the hope of contributing to the happiness of his 
country ever led him to unite in counsels which were 
ultimately disastrous, he had the magnanimity to with- 



33 

draw from them when the means became licentious or 
the end unjust. Always the same generous friend, 
the same gallant soldier, the same disinterested patri- 
ot. Tranquil and consistent in his purposes at the 
head of armies or under a load of chains—defending 
the cause of humanity in the senate house, or pouring 
forth his blood on the field of glory. May the laurel 
which surrounds his honoured brows long retain its 
verdure, and when his eyes shall close in death may it 
bloom in perpetual freshness on his grave. 

The name of Lafayette is here associated with 
others long since hallowed by the sanctifying influence 
of the tomb. When the children of America shall 
have exhausted all their fund of gratitude, they will 
come far short of what they owe to Franklin for the 
benefits he has conferred upon them and upon man- 
kind. In the city, where for the most part he resided 
and where his ashes rest, the eye can scarcely turn 
to a long established object of general good, that 
does not owe its origin largely to his public spirit 
and exertions. His example has sometimes been 
quoted as an argument against the necessity and value 
of polite learning. Nothing could be more erroneous. 
The founder of the earliest College in the country, 
now an extensive university; of that noble Library 
which scatters knowledge with a lavish hand ; of that 
Philosophical Society, whose untiring efforts have 
continued to increase in ardour and usefulness — 
could no more be charged with failing in his love of 

3 



34 

literature, than he could be suspected of wanting 
the qualities of the heart, while the Pennsylvania 
Hospital stands a proud and enduring monument of 
his philanthrophy. His own native force of intel- 
lect, indeed enabled him to overcome the want of a 
systematic education in early life ; yet it was in an en- 
thusiastic devotion to the pages of the classic Xeno- 
phon, that he became enamoured of the character of 
Socrates and learned to adopt it for his model as a 
philosopher. 

But there is one whose name and example are 
happily blended with the hopes of this rising institu- 
tion, who united all the manly consistency of Lafay- 
ette, and all the fervent patriotism of Franklin, 
with qualities which were peculiarly his own. The 
characters of men of a distant age, like those of the 
events in which they were engaged, may be obscured 
by time or misrepresented by tradition. Historians 
have pointed out in the long catalogue of names that 
have shone in the annals of nations, two that have 
been handed down spotless to posterity. These are 
Alfred of England and Marcus Aurelius, who wept 
when he became an Emperor. But they impute 
their freedom from all reproach to the imperfection 
of history itself, and consider their defects so neces- 
sarily incident to mankind, that they must have been 
buried with the recollections of their cotemporaries. 
Not so with Washington. The generation which 
came with him into life has indeed departed. That 



35 

too which succeeded and witnessed his exploits, is 
rapidly passing away, and soon, very soon, not a ves- 
tige of it will remain. But the country is yetfull of 
those who form as it were links which are to connect 
the days of Washington with those of his posterity. 
It is for them to take care that the knowledge of his 
especial qualities does not partake of the fleeting pro- 
perties of almost all things human, and like them melt 
away and be forgotten. Let then his cotemporaries, 
for such are all they that have attained the age of four 
and thirty years, with the knowledge which they 
possess, of all that envy may have distorted or disap- 
pointment feigned — let them with the influence of 
immediate contact, and without the advantages which 
distance of time may afford to a doubtful character — 
let them record his failings if they can. 

Other heroes may have won more blood stained 
trophies. Other conquerors may have ruled over 
more populous empires. But the occasion and the in- 
dividual never were so adapted to each other, conduct 
never was displayed so eminently fitted to pro- 
duce its happy and glorious result, as in the in- 
stance of the American Revolution and the early his- 
tory of these United States — and George Washing- 
ton. More brilliant exploits mightperhaps have been 
performed to dazzle the eye, but they might too have 
marred the work which was to be achieved by an un- 
pretending heroism as novel as it was illustrious. The 
triumphs of the warrior might perhaps have been 



36 

more resplendent, but they would have endangered 
the safety of his country. The great man whose 
name you have assumed, was unlike many of the he- 
roes of the ancient world, but in the essential proper- 
ties of greatness, he surpassed them all. Home bred 
and home devoted he was the model for Americans. In 
war the undaunted soldier with the circumspection of 
a philosopher, in peace the sagacious statesmen with 
the nerve and vigour of a warrior. 

With all the advantages and inducements that have 
been adverted to, what more could be desired to in- 
flame the ardour of honourable ambition, or crown the 
efforts of successful zeal? The character and con- 
quests of your ancestors, are sacred pledges confided 
to your hands. The cause of science is the cause of 
freedom, of virtue, and of happiness. The institu- 
tions of our country give value and importance to the 
services of all her citizens, and should stimulate the 
mostdffident of them to put forth his utmost strength. 
The occupations and pursuits presented to them are 
full of moral and intellectual enjoyment. The great 
commonwealth of which we are the immediate inhabi- 
tants teems with resources, opportunities and rewards. 
The names of patriots and sages are assumed by you, 
as badges of adoption into the parent seminary, and 
of emulation among her sons. If worthily worn they 
are the emblems of honour; if abused or neglected 
they are the marks of shame. Thus excited to manly 
exertion, were your abode cast in the mournful cloister 



37 

and surrounded by the sands of the inhospitable de- 
sert, you could scarcely fail to rise to the rank of ac- 
complished scholars and estimable men. But around 
you all nature speaks in glorious harmony with the 
feelings and desires, which every gilded recollection, 
which every buoyant hope is calculated to inspire. — 
The muse of history is yet young amongst us. Yet 
her records already show that yonder lofty hills crown- 
ed with luxuriant foliage, these copious rivers now 
loaded with their ample freights, those fertile 
plains now rich in abundant harvests, were bestowed 
by providence for wiser purposes than to nourish 
game for the savage, or afford indulgence to his barba- 
rous sports. Their first rude master has departed. — 
His war-whoop at the murderous onset, no longer 
echoes in the valleys — his retiring footstep no longer 
marks the mountain path with blood. They are as 
little destined for the abode of the untutored and ig- 
norant, who in the natural progress of events succeed- 
ed. They too have done their duty and have gone 
to subdue other forests and to prepare for the hus- 
bandmen other fields. A wilderness has given place 
to the cultivated plain, and smiling towns lift their 
spires where at no distant day the sturdy stroke of 
the pioneer alone resounded. Every thing is accom- 
plished except the task of the scholar. That great 
work is reserved especially for you. Guided and 
conducted by the good and wise, patronized by the 
liberal, and encouraged by all, this rising institution 



38 

depends for its reputation and success on those who 
have enrolled themselves as its pupils and are to 
carry abroad in their own accomplishments its cha- 
racter and fame. Should you falter and fail in the great 
race that is running by all around you, how deep and 
lasting will be your reproach. But should you in 
untiring zeal, successfully strive with them for the 
mastery, immortal may be your glory, immeasurable 
your reward. 




V- 



i LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



011 783 135 8 



